Abe-San

I met Abe while strolling through the labyrinth-like little streets of Shibuya (Tokyo) in early November of 2014. While taking pictures of facades, I suddenly noticed a quite large shop sign, with the pretty bold quote “Fuck PC, real DJs play Vinyl”.

I could not believe my eyes. Okay!? I thought.
This is one of the many things I always loved about Japan, it can surprise you at any moment.

At the time, I was an active DJ and a life-long hard-boiled vinyl enthusiast/collector who could actually resonate with that sentence with all his heart. But after reading it openly on a large billboard in a dense urban jungle, I was more than curious to find out what was behind it. After some stairs, I found the entrance and stepped into a tiny shop, crammed with DJ gear, music equipment and turntables, piled up to the ceiling.

I was welcomed by a rather sceptical guy, asking me in poor English what I wanted there. I was surprised by his question and pointed out that his billboard magically attracted me since I was a vinyl DJ myself and thought I would have probably loved his shop. I think I even bowed and almost excused myself for having stepped into his magical place.

His mood immediately changed and he smiled at me. “OK” he said. “I am Abe.” I show you my needles. He pointed to several polaroids randomly placed between the DJ gear – the pictures showed absolute music legends like Derrick May, Jeff Mills, Jazzy Jeff or Pete Rock, all grinning up to their ears, holding bright red or completely white turntable needle-systems in their hands, together with a very happy Abe.

“I am Abe.” He repeated and smiled.

I have no idea of where I ended up, I said to myself, but I surely entered a secret and sacred temple of music that nobody knows about unless they've already set foot here. Back in the days, the internet did not show many results about this shop and the only information I could find was from DJ legends themselves, talking about it on a hi-fi forum or during an interview. I remember how I had goosebumps, which soon became more intense.

Of course, he wanted to demonstrate their sound and placed a record on a turntable. He looked at me in an almost ceremonial way, as if something special was about to happen ..and all I remember after was that a new universe opened up to me. And I mean it.

It sounds cliché, but I have never heard such a clear sound before. That sound quality was just out of this world, you could just hear it – crispier, more “saturated”, richer – it's not easy to explain, but I can absolutely stand behind it when I say it blew me away. The Japanese are known to be die-hard sound quality experts and very passionate about it. In every little bar, you will find a superb music system with high-quality speakers.

Abe's mix of high-end speakers paired with his own developed needle system was an absolutely magical experience. I almost had tears in my eyes, I felt so grateful to have discovered this little gem.

And it did not stop there. Since he also was an absolutely skilled DJ, Abe started to started to perform, mixing his own spoken words into tubes, looping them over a beat, singing, rapping, scratching and almost performing a DMC set.

Of course, I purchased a whole bunch of needles – and yes, I invested a critical part of my travel budget on them, but I couldn't resist. (And no, I have never regretted it once:))

Abe also explained to me how to set up the turntable in 8 steps, which was really complex, also because of the language barrier, but in the end, we made it.

I don’t know if Abe considers me his friend, I am not even sure if he would still recognize me, but over the years I have visited him on at least three other occasions (last time in early 2019). I will surely visit him again whenever I will travel to Japan as it has become one of my favorite places in the whole world.

Every time I stepped into that tiny shop jammed with DJ stuff, Abe would at first be sceptical and grumpy, almost dismissive (I saw how he kicked tourists out of his shop without any clear reason) to then light up as soon as I would show him a picture of us together back in 2014.

"I am Abe." He would then always declare, put a record on, turn up the volume and the ice would be broken.

Derrick May, one of the innovators of techno and a DJ legend, calls the Taruya needles his “secret weapons”. I once had the chance to warm up a DJ set and play together with DJ Peak aka Mangodrive before him at a Rundfunk.fm party in Zurich (2015). We discussed the magical little shop in Tokyo and also Derrick was completely enthusiastic about the whole experience, especially about the quality of the product. I always wondered why so few people know about it.

I also realized that Abe is a living music legend and his knowledge about sound in general is beyond rational. Abe naturally switches between disco, house, rap, reggae, jazz – he's truly a wizard himself and I am very grateful to have met him, back on that cold November afternoon in 2014.

Since the Covid pandemic started in 2020, there hasn't been a chance to travel to Japan, but I cannot wait to soon visit this magical country again and Abe, who somehow has a special place in my heart.

Thank You Abe-San!

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By today Abe offers his products in an online shop on his Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/taruyajapan/

Abe-San

2023